The worst metal label currently in the mainstream, only matched by Earache in its scuminess and trend hopping.
In the past 25ish of its 40 years of existence, Roadrunner Records has provided the rock and metal world with
either the mallcore-ready reheated leftovers of a band's previously good sound (Sepultura, Gojira,
Fear Factory, etc) or the "latest and greatest" in the buttrock sphere designed to sell records and please your average 13 year old that thinks they were "born in the wrong generation" (
Machine Head, Slipknot, Nickelback, etc). Once a band that's signed stops selling records in an endless attempt to "keep with the times", they dump them and leave them for dead, but still release all their old shit in an endless surge of remasters and deluxe editions that pale in comparison to the original version.
They had some of the biggest potential to be the definitive
extreme metal label but ultimately failed at its task, leaving labels like Steamhammer, Century Media, Peaceville, and Relapse to pick up the pieces.
